- words – Simon Kendrick
- images – Pam Mathews, www.pamspix.net
Sunday 14th May was Mother’s Day. Some chose to celebrate with their Mums at home, but the dedicated Mums of the world came to RACE! But seriously, without karting Mums and Dads sacrificing their one special day of the year for their children to go racing, we may not have had such a great meeting, and we sincerely thank you.
This race meeting saw the ongoing trial of progressive points system for all classes. Points were awarded for Qualifying and each heat throughout the day that accumulated towards your grid position for the next race. This format rewards consistency of racing with more emphasis put on a race finish than a Prefinal win.
13 classes of karts greeted the Grid Marshall for a fun filled day of karting including Tag Restricted Light that brought out the red flag on lap 1 – not once, but twice. Thankfully there were no injuries however once the race was restarted it went on to a last lap Grand stand finish.
Joseph Licciardello had been on the front row for the start but his engine bogged down in the run to turn 1. He was swamped by 5 karts but managed to get back through the field and by the last lap was hot on the heels of race leader Salvatore Scarpignato. Joseph almost broke the lap record with a 42.191 narrowly missing it by 2 hundredths of a second as he chased down Salvatore. They rounded the final corner side by side and dashed to the finish line. Scarpignato held off Licciardello by just .016 of a second to take the win, and the trackside crowd applauded the sensational comeback by young Joseph in the Kartschool Australia Monaco kart.
Cadet 9 – Jake Rutkowski showed dominance all day in the EvoKart putting it on pole in qualifying and then winning every heat all day. Macka Hazard did his best to stay with Jake but battled on with Robert McTighe in the final to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. This was Robert’s best result to date since beginning karting finally making the top 3 podium.
KA3 Junior: – Jackson Souslin- Harlow (Arbor Bizz/ Lush Model) lead the field all day, from Pole on Qualifying to the final. George Mawad (Renovation Excellence) got the better of Jordan Giannopoulos (Leading IT) followed by Jayden Aitken in 4th and Sasha Stevanovic in 5th.
Cadet 12 – Alex Ninovic had the biggest smile after finishing 1st this round. In a tense battle with Jack Childs from Qualifying and through each heat, it was Alex that came out the victor in the final. 2nd place went to Bailey Hazard (Topgun Racing Team), 3rd to Marshall Atayan with 4th placeto Jordan Shalala (Shalala Smash Repairs) and James Stabile in 5th.
TaG 125 Light – Matt Skelton qualified on pole for TaG light with 41.103 followed by Rinaldi 41.523 and Webb 41.580. Racing was tough through the heats with Skelton suffering some engine problems. In the final Toby Webb came through for the win followed by Alexander Rinaldi (Advanced Buildings) and Jordan Mazzaroli in 3rd (Real Equity Estate Agents)
TaG 125 Heavy – 125 Heavy only fielded 3 drivers with all 3 drivers duking out each race for the wins. Avramidis started the final off pole but unfortunately didn’t finish leaving it up to Bradley Maroun and Robert Cribbin to fight for the 1st place trophy. Maround came out on top with Cribbin taking 2nd and Avramidis 3rd.
Junior Max – A small field of just 2 drivers contested Junior Max this round with Russell Mayo and Casey Cleaver battling it out all day. The boys mixed in with the KA3 Juniors to make the field with Russell Mayo taking 5 out of 5 races during the day.
TaG Restricted Medium – Kendrick (#2 Troy Farley Race Engines) put in another strong performance to qualify 1st and then win every heat and final throughout the day. Jake Heyneman and Zach Phelan (#49 Ozzy Outhouse) kept him honest each race along with Greg Holden (TLE Electrical). Phelan unfortunately threw a chain in the final to put him out. Heyneman put down the fastest lap of the day with a 43.051 to finish 2nd with Holden in 3rd.
KA4 Junior Light – Mothers Day seemed to be the coming of age for Thomas McTighe. After qualifying in 2nd behind Beau Pronesti, he proceeded to put in a solid performance during the day to work his way towards the front of the field. By the Final, he had shaved over half a second off his qualifying time to be one of the fastest on track. The racing was superb over the last 5 laps of the final with Heard and McTighe changing places multiple time each lap. Thomas managed to make the pass stick at the right time and hold on across the finish line to take the win ahead of Zach Heard. A very impressive clean racing performance from both boys and I’m sure this wont be the last time we see Thomas on the top step of the podium.
KA4 Junior Heavy – Tyler Brown took the win in KA4 Jnr Heavy followed by Jude Bargwanna in 2nd and Hunter Sydenham (left) in 3rd. In one of their first few races on P plates, 4th went to James Makris (right) and 5th to Antonio Mastronado (centre).
TaG 125 Restricted Masters Light – Ronald Arnold had been fast in the heats all day along with Brad Sutton and Michael Schiller, but by Final time Schiller gained the ascendancy for the win followed by Sutton and Michael Micallef. Unfortunately, Arnold DNFed along with another upfront regular of Dos Santos. No doubt it will be “on for young and old” at the next race – of course in this class I really mean “Old and Old” 😊
TaG 125 Restricted Masters Medium – Niven Riches qualified fastest for Masters Medium however Darrin Renouf had eyes on the prize and upset the old master in the final. Renouf drove to a 2 second win over Riches followed by George Kassis in 3rd.
Round 5 of the NSKC Club championships is on 11th June. I hope to see you all there.
Results:
Cadet 9
1. Jake RUTKOWSKI, 2. Macka HAZARD 3. Robert MCTIGHE
Cadet 12
1. Alex NINOVIC, 2. Bailey HAZARD, 3. Marshall ATAYAN
Jnr KA3
1. Jackson SOUSLIN-HARLOW, 2. George MAWAD, 3. Jordan GIANNOPOULOS
KA3 Senior Light
1. Kurtis READ, 2. Christopher POLIS, 3. Michael HARBER
Jnr Max
1. Russell MAYO, 2. Casey CLEAVER,
Jnr KA4 Light
1. Thomas MCTIGHE, 2. Zachary HEARD 3. Luke THOMAS
Jnr KA4 Heavy
1. Tyler BROWN 2. Jude BARGWANNA, 3. Hunter SYDENHAM
TaG 125 Restricted Light
1. Salvatore SCARPIGNATO, 2. Joseph LICCIARDELLO, 3. Cristopher MAYAS-ADROVER
TaG 125 Restricted Medium
1. Simon KENDRICK, 2. Jake HEYNEMAN, 3. Greg HOLDEN
TaG 125 Restricted Masters Light
1. Michael SCHILLER 2. Brad SUTTON, 3. Michael MICALLEF
TaG 125 Restricted Masters Heavy
1. Darrin RENOUF 2. Niven RICHES, 3. George KASSIS
TaG 125 Light
1. Toby WEBB, 2. Alexander RINALDI, 3. Jordan MAZZAROLI
TaG 125 Heavy
1. Bradley MAROUN, 2. Robert CRIBBIN, 3. Kerry AVRAMIDIS
Focus On Future Stars
Thomas McTighe, at 11 years old, has been gradually progressing throughout the season in KA4 Junior along with his younger brother Robert aged 9 who contests the cadet 9 class.
Thomas and Robert together with their father Ian McTighe have been out at the track every weekend they can, to put in laps and gain experience in racing. Since recently changing to EvoKart, Thomas has shown a noticeable improvement in form under the tutelage of Dave Haak and Anthony Mansell from Evokart Australia.
Round 4 of the NSKC championship culminated with Thomas putting it all together for the best win of his karting career. He fought well with experienced kart racer Zach Heard to take the win and showed some serious race craft in the process.
Supported by their parents and proud sponsors Brooklands Engineering, Thomas leads the club championship in KA4 Junior light along with Robert leading the championship in Cadet 9. They will continue their pursuit of the club championship and see where the next step will take them. No doubt they will both be on the podium for many years to come as future stars of karting.